The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Part 20 (1/2)
”By train from Waterloo”
”It is not yet nine The streets will be crowded, so I trust that you uard yourself too closely”
”I am armed”
”That is well To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case”
”I shall see you at Horsham, then?”
”No, your secret lies in London It is there that I shall seek it”
”Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news as to the box and the papers I shall take your advice in every particular” He shook hands with us and took his leave Outside the wind still screaainst the s This strange, wild story seemed to have come to us from amid the ale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them once more
Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire Then he lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue s
”I think, Watson,” he remarked at last, ”that of all our cases we have had none n of Four”
”Well, yes Save, perhaps, that And yet this John Openshaw seereater perils than did the Sholtos”
”But have you,” I asked, ”formed any definite conception as to what these perils are?”
”There can be no question as to their nature,” he answered
”Then what are they? Who is this K K K, and why does he pursue this unhappy family?”
Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the arether ”The ideal reasoner,” he rele fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which would follow from it As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole anile bone, so the observer who has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both before and after We have not yet grasped the results which the reason alone can attain to Problems may be solved in the study which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the aid of their senses To carry the art, however, to its highest pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to utilise all the facts which have coe; and this in itself ie, which, even in these days of free education and encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment It is not so ie which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have endeavoured in htly, you on one occasion, in the early days of our friendshi+p, defined my limits in a very precise fashi+on”
”Yes,” I answered, laughing ”It was a singular document
Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were y profound as regards the ion within fifty miles of town, chemistry eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco Those, I think, were the rinned at the last item ”Well,” he said, ”I say now, as I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the rest he can put away in the luet it if he wants it Now, for such a case as the one which has been subht, we need certainly to muster all our resources Kindly hand me down the letter K of the 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you
Thank you Now let us consider the situation and see what may be deduced fro presu reason for leaving Ae all their habits and exchange willingly the charlish provincial town His extreests the idea that he was in fear of so hypothesis that it was fear of so which drove him from America As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by considering the formidable letters which were received by himself and his successors Did you remark the postmarks of those letters?”
”The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the third from London”
”From East London What do you deduce from that?”
”They are all seaports That the writer was on board of a shi+p”
”Excellent We have already a clue There can be no doubt that the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was on board of a shi+p And now let us consider another point In the case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only so?”
”A greater distance to travel”
”But the letter had also a greater distance to come”